Melissa Newman is an educator and Mixed Media artist originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  She holds an MA and MFA in Painting from the University of Iowa (2003, 2004). Her work has been exhibited in various venues across the country and in 2006 she completed a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She has taught Foundations and Painting classes at Middle Tennessee State University since 2008. Her work includes paintings and mixed media collage that explore the overlap of nostalgia, collective memory, and the expectations of femininity. She lives in Nashville with her husband and daughter.